Force of Nature
by Shatterwing
Summary: Admiral Pike thinks about his 'protege' after a meeting with the Admiralty unsettles him. One-Shot


A/N: This kind of possessed my brain, so let me know what you think. I don't have a Beta so any mistakes here are my own. Reviews are always appreciated, however flames will be used to roast marshmallows.

Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be mine, I make no money from this… Are you happy now?

* * *

Admiral Pike sighed, a glass of bourbon held loosely in one hand as he stared out at the dismal San Francisco weather. Sitting back in his arm chair he cradled the glass against his chest as his eyes drifted idly over the data pad in his hand, his mind still reeling from the consequences' of what he was re-reading and the meeting he'd just attended.

It was inevitable, he supposed.

The Admiralty was wanted to put a leash on Kirk.

It had taken all of Pike's self restraint to keep from laughing hysterically as the reason for that particular session of counsel had take form.

'Put the fear of reprisals in him' was the foolhardy statement of one deeply disapproving Admiral Komack. He had tried to get them to see reason, that there was no reasoning with Kirk. He'd tried to explain that the things that made Kirk great, were the same things that made their blood pressure sky rocket. His words hadn't done anything but get him a bunch of odd looks and a sick feeling that the backlash was going to be ugly.

Captain Kirk was intelligent, brave, kind, funny and charismatic. He could also be dark, defiant, vicious, uncontrollable and disrespectful.

James T. Kirk was turning into a great Captain, with a unfathomable ability to turn the tables on anyone or thing that tried to get in his way. He was also immature, prone to casual sex, bar fights and impossibly behind on mandatory paperwork. He gave his ship and crew everything he had, and in return they gave him everything they had.

He was everything thing Starfleet could want and twice as much of what they didn't.

The media loved him, painting Kirk as a young, bold, scintillating figure of all that Starfleet represented, wrapped up in a well muscled six foot package with vivid blue eyes, golden hair and a devil-may-care smile.

It had only been a matter of time before Starfleet, in all its bureaucratic stupidity, tried to rein in their poster boy.

The problem was, you couldn't put reins on James T. Kirk. You couldn't limit him, you couldn't tell him what he could and couldn't do. It just wasn't possible.

Pike would know, as Kirk's sponsor to the Academy, he'd tried already.

In those first few understandably tense months, he'd tried to reel in his unwilling protégé.

Tried to tame the near incapacitating ferocity with which Cadet Kirk threw himself at the world in general. The disastrous backlash from all his efforts to minimize Kirk's insanity led him to the conclusion he'd be better off just doing damage control.

Cadet Kirk would have stood alone, defiant, but would have never submitted to the authority that the Admiralty was trying to exert. Things had changed, James T. Kirk was no longer a lonely angry cadet, but _some_ things do not change. Captain Kirk had a full crew's fervent devotion backing him, more confidence then any one person needed and would stand just as defiant in front of the admirals.

Pike had to laugh, a short bark of ill humor before he knocked back the rest of his bourbon.

As if the odds weren't stacked against the Admiralty enough already, Kirk had the unwavering loyalty of one of the most intelligent and respected members of Starfleet.

Spock.

He really hadn't seen that coming. He'd known, in the beginning of the whole Nero incident, that they'd make a good team. Yet in hindsight, he'd had no idea of exactly how well they would work together.

Ying and yang, Hot and cold, complete and polar opposites, Pike didn't know how they managed to stand each other. And yet they had done far more then simply surviving each other. They had found the perfect balance of unparalleled instincts and unflinching logic. They had, against all the odds, become fast friends.

Spock didn't just ground the volatile Kirk, He gave him an unmovable foundation. Instead of muting the chaos that would always surround James Kirk, Spock gave it resonance, drawing out the patterns and making sense of Kirk's sometimes unfathomable actions.

Admiral Pike stood and walked over to the window, outside the gloomy weather had progressed to a full blown gale of hellish proportions. Rain pelted the window in a unforgiving sheet, wind whipped around the building creating the odd hollow sounds of mournful wailing. Trees danced in a wild dervish of motion.

And there, in the middle of the courtyard, standing upright and sure in the face of nature's fury, was Captain James Tiberius Kirk.

Staring up into rain and wind with a soft smile that could break hearts from a hundred paces, Kirk's arms opened, his eyes slid shut and his head fell back. He stood that way for a long moment, allowing the rain to drench his face and the wind to tear at his uniform.

Pike watched as Kirk embraced the storm instead of hiding from it. A moment of calm descended on Pike's mind as he thought again to the Admirals that wanted to leash this paragon of contradiction and brilliance. His back straightened as he realized, they could try and they would fail. Nothing he could do was going to change that.

Turning away from the window and heading for the exit, understanding settled comfortingly into his mind.

Part of Kirk's genius was his unpredictability, the way he embraced chaos and made it his own just another facet of his brilliance.

Taking long shot odds and turning them into a sure thing, Kirk wasn't just a man. He was a Captain with his crew's complete and uncompromising support.

Facing anything, be it the full force of the Admiralty's disapproval, unknown space, even death, Kirk wasn't just a Captain. With Spock at his side, he was a force of nature.

Admiral Christopher Pike smiled as he left his office.

Some things just have to be learned the hard way, the Admiralty was in for a shock, and he… well, he was looking forward to it.


End file.
